Golden Gates and Digimon
by Imperius
Summary: I used to be J16! The D-reaper has found its way back to the real world, using deleted data to evolve in the middle of San Francisco, Cali! Now, from Pier 39 to 3com Park, the tamers must travel and stop the menace before it turns earth into a wasteland!


BD: One of my next two big projects in production, "Golden Gates and Digimon." This will be much more lighthearted than "Friendship and Love," 'cause that's not really my style of writing. Or maybe it is...whatever.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or other franchises mentioned in this story. So there.  
  
  
  
Chapter 1: The Year (or so) After It All  
  
Takato's POV: What a difference a year makes. Even after the hassle of 'saving the world' as our friends called it, life afterwards shortly came back to normal, the way things were supposed to be. Sure, a part of me, as well as Henry, Rika, Jeri, Ryo, Kazu, Kenta, and Suzie all wanted to relive the action again to a certain degree, but there was also that notorious statement.  
  
"We need a vacation."  
  
Ok, it was a semi-vacation, and only five of us got to go. Ryo moved on to God knows where, Kazu and Kenta were fuddy-duddies and didn't want to go, and Suzie wasn't allowed to go, much to her dismay. After lots of convincing, we decided to let her jump on the bandwagon  
  
We all had a good time there. There were some dangers, of course...  
  
"Hey Gogglehead, how about just starting the story from scratch?"  
  
Um, yeah, that's a good idea...  
  
*****************  
  
Fourteen year old Takato Matsuki sighed and leaned his head on his desk, listening to the boring lectures of algebra.  
  
-Man, someone get the guy an exciting machine.  
  
It had been a whole year since the event of the kids' lifetimes had come and gone, and boy, were they glad to have it over. But still, their job of saving the world had come at a huge price: they lost their digital monsters.  
  
Takato, Rika, Henry, and Jeri seemed to miss them the most. Takato always drew pictures of Guilmon, wishing that he came back and that they would see each other again, but it hadn't happened, yet. Despite the fact that Takato had found the digital port in our infamous ending, he hadn't discovered a way to actually get back in there. Sometimes he would wander over to the park just to see if any digimon had opened the gate, each time with empty results.  
  
The brown-haired boy got out his English notebook and began to draw again. His imagination, as always, took him over again as he sketched drawings of his late friend.  
  
"Takato Matsuki!"  
  
Takato looked up from his drawing and there stood the face of his evil math teacher, Mr. Tamanouchi.  
  
-Oh dammit, why don't I ever stop this? I wouldn't be in this spot if it weren't for my imagination...  
  
Of course, Guilmon wouldn't be alive if it weren't for his imagination...  
  
"I'm sorry sir, I just got off track for a moment, I promise I'll pay attention now," he quickly apologized. It was no use, of course.  
  
"Takato," he sighed. "That's what you said last time. I mean, how many times do I have to give you detention before you finally understand? I guess maybe another one will knock some sense into your brain." He gave the poor boy a slip. "Mr. Matsuki, if you spent as much time on your little drawings onto your schoolwork, you'd be more successful and do better on tests. I'll see you after school, young man."  
  
The teacher walked away and Takato groaned. "Geez," he said silently, "Don't you recognize a hero when you see it? Maybe I should've let the D- reaper get him."  
  
He shrugged and pulled out his mathbook, cursing to the ideas of factoring.  
  
*************  
  
It was mid-December, almost time for Christmas vacation as a matter of fact. Though it rarely snowed in Shinjuku, Japan, it did this year, and the white blanket made everything look beautiful in the eyes of the young girl Jeri Katou.  
  
She was fourteen this year, Jeri was, and the past year, she went back to normal. (For the most part) gone were the days of depression from mourning the death of Leomon. She accepted it, and went on to her perky self, that everyone, including Takato, loved about her.  
  
-Takato...  
  
Jeri sat in her desk, sixth period, watching the snow fall from the windowsill and not paying attention either. A whole year, and Takato had not even asked her out yet. She figured that he would the minute after everyone was saved and everything was normal, but that was not the case. Just like old times, whenever Jeri would try to say something to him, he would get crimson in the face and act like an idiot, something the bizarre Jeri would find attractive.  
  
She almost wished that he would, because the tension was growing inside each of them, and neither one wanted to admit it.  
  
She shrugged those thoughts off her mind momentarily as the sixth period bell rang, exciting all 2,318 students and staff that occupied Shinjuku High School. Jeri sighed as well, happy that Christmas vacation had come to her at last.  
  
The dark-haired girl gathered her books up and prepared to leave Room H, but stopped when she saw the handsome brown-haired boy walk dejectedly into the classroom.  
  
-Detention again, hmm?  
  
"Detention again?" Jeri asked him. Takato nodded slowly.  
  
"Guilmon's fault again," he replied. Jeri snickered.  
  
"I'll be waiting for you outside. It shouldn't take that long, right?"  
  
Takato shook his head. "It probably will. Go ahead and go home if you want."  
  
"No way. I want to stay."  
  
The boy instantly blushed, making Jeri smile. She knew she had charmed him. "Alright, but you'd better get comfortable."  
  
And Takato was right. It took almost forty-five minutes for Takato to sit through lecturing, yelling, scolding, and the like before he escaped the prison.  
  
Much to Takato's surprise, there stood the girl, her nose buried under a book entitled "Digimon: Digital Formation." Takato couldn't help but laugh.  
  
"I'm surprised with you. Isn't that like a 500 page book?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
He chuckled again. "Come on, I'll walk you home."  
  
To some, this might suggest that the young friends were going out or something, but it was not the case, as they always walked each other home. Sometimes they might stay at the other's house for a while, and just talk, do homework, or even watch the television.  
  
Takato and Jeri both hugged their jackets snuggly as they walked through the 25 degree weather. It was unusual for the climate to be like this, but they both loved it. Takato despised hot weather; it was bad for his hair.  
  
Trotting through snow and ice, the kids finally made it to Jeri's house. Despite Takato's house was pretty close by, it was snowy and cold, so he planned to just call his parents on the phone and just pick him up there.  
  
Jeri noticed a piece of paper on the door and snatched it.  
  
"I wonder what this is?" she said to herself. Takato glanced over her shoulder and read the contents. "Hmm, a letter."  
  
Dear Tamers,  
  
It is of the highest gratitude to have gotten to know you on a personal level as well as a professional state. You eight are the reason that this world is still living this way. As a token of our gratitude, we present you belated but wonderful gifts. Please come to Takato's house when you can.  
  
Your sincerest thanks,  
  
The Monster Makers/Team Hypnos  
  
Jeri stood there speechless. It had been over a year since everything happened, yet they want to celebrate now? Oh well.  
  
"Hey, Jeri, what is that? Let me see!" Takato whined, switching views to get a closer look at the message. Jeri gave it to the excited boy, who read it to himself yet vocally.  
  
"Heh," he mumbled. "I wonder what they plan to do. Maybe throw a party." He looked up and noticed Jeri. "Jeri, what's wrong?"  
  
She immediately smiled. "Nothing! I can't wait to see Rika again!" she exclaimed. Takato, meanwhile, gave her the eye. He knew something was bugging her, though he wasn't completely sure, he had a good idea.  
  
"Well, let's just go there on our own," Takato shrugged as he and Jeri continued down the road to Takato's house, which was no more than a mile away.  
  
***************  
  
The snow had stopped falling when the two came to Takato's house. His shelter had several cars in the driveway, while some were parked right by the bread shop. "I guess the other tamers got the message," Takato noticed to Jeri. She nodded as they walked in the entrance of the shop.  
  
There was much commotion in the bread shop, where many voices could be heard. He heard most of the tamers in there, chattering...especially Kazu and Kenta.  
  
"Can you believe it! Guardromon is back!"  
  
"And I'm handsomer than ever!"  
  
-Guardromon?  
  
Takato and Jeri looked around. More than Guardromon was back. Terriermon, Renamon, Marineangemon, and Lopmon also found their way back to the real world-  
  
"Takatomon!"  
  
-Huh?  
  
Takato had no time to react as his once-gone dino-friend ambushed him from behind, knocking him to the ground!  
  
"Ow...geez!" Takato sat up holding his head.  
  
-Damn, that hurt...  
  
"Guilmon!" He exclaimed, giving the red dinosaur a huge squeeze. After he broke it off, he looked around and saw all the tamers, save for Ryo Akiyama.  
  
"Where's Ryo?" Takato queried, looking around.  
  
"That pretty boy ditched us. He moved to God knows where," strawberry- haired tough-girl Rika Nonaka replied. She put her head down. "That's so typical of him."  
  
"I wonder what this is all about, besides the fact that we get our digimon back," blue-haired Henry Wong inquired. "They said about giving us something else."  
  
"Oh, so you're going to neglect me? I see how it is," Henry's partner Terriermon said to him. "I'll go outside in the freezing cold, with no place to live..."  
  
"Momentai, Terriermon," replied Henry. "I was just kidding."  
  
"I hope you were."  
  
"Well, that's about it," The tamers and their digimon turned around to see a blond-haired man in sunglasses.  
  
-Yamaki.  
  
But this time, he wasn't wearing a jacket and tie like he normally did; this time, it was normal attire, a polo shirt and some jeans, something new for the occupants' eyes.  
  
"Yamaki! Haven't seen you in a while," Takato said to him. Yamaki smiled.  
  
"Let me get straight to the point. But first, you guys better sit down and get comfortable." Everyone took his word and sat down, waiting for an explanation. "When you guys had defeated the D-reaper, the data of the digimon could not sustain in the real world, both in way of the Juggernaut Program as well as Shibumi Mizuno's miscalculations. So they returned to the real world." Yamaki walked around the tamers, as if trying to act like an important person in a business, at least to Takato.  
  
"Of course, Janyu and the rest of the Monster Makers did not want to see you kids saddened by the turn of events, so they were hard at work. They tried in every method to get the digital life forms back to you however they could. Primary plans were not going well, as they could not find a way."  
  
"That's when they decided to take a risk. Since they knew there were no evil digital monsters that existed anymore due to their mutual desire to save both worlds, they concluded that if they permanently deleted the Juggernaut Program, digimon would be able to roam free in this world, while having the conscience to not destroy buildings, like, say, the pig deva did."  
  
"So that's what they did. Deleting the Juggernaut Program was full of jeopardy, but the idea wasn't really that good to start with, from what I remember. Therefore, you have your digital monsters with you, and there are some digimon that even made it to other parts of the world and became partners with other kids like you."  
  
"Wow! That's so cool!" Takato said. Everyone looked at him. "Oops. Sorry. Continue."  
  
"Thank you," Yamaki replied. "Anyway, there is a problem. It seems that old deleted data from defeated digimon had found its way through to the real world, and has taken shape to form a being. We don't exactly know for sure what it looks like, for the simple explanation that old data can take on any physical life form. Unfortunately for us, it has hostile intentions, what motive I don't know for sure, but I could guess that if it is also from the D-reaper, there may be a factor of vengeance. The Monster Makers call it the D-Zombie, because it should have been de-digivolved to be no less than a calculator, but it also collected the deleted data to evolve."  
  
The tamers stood in shock. They knew that the reunion was too good to be true. "Maybe opening a port and giving us our digimon back wasn't such a good idea," Henry said.  
  
"So where is this 'D-Zombie or whatever it's called?" Rika asked.  
  
"Our sources, from newspapers, television, and the World Wide Web show that it is deep within San Fransisco, California."  
  
"America?!" The tamers exclaimed at once.  
  
"And you guys have a job to do."  
  
"Don't tell me we're going..." Takato began.  
  
"That's right. We're sending you guys there."  
  
Takato leaped in the air. "Alright! This is so cool! I always wanted to..."  
  
"Be quiet, Gogglehead, this is serious," Rika whispered to him, prompting him to stop.  
  
"I guess you're right..."  
  
"If you don't want to go, we can understand," Yamaki said. "We know you guys have been through a lot, also remember that there are other tamers who might help you guys, so you will have some backup. Oh, and this is an all- expense paid trip, of course. Sort of our gift to you guys if you plan to go."  
  
"Well, it's definite! I want to go, and I will go! It's California, for crying out loud!" Takato jumped again. Rika shook her head.  
  
-What a dork.  
  
"I'm not sure about this," Henry said. "It might be more dangerous than the D-reaper, since this is also all the deleted digimon..."  
  
"Momentai, Henry!" Terriermon shouted. "Nothing we can't handle!"  
  
He smiled. "Yeah, you're right."  
  
"So," Yamaki concluded, "I suggest you have a talk with your parents before you come up with a final decision. Since Takato's parents have already given him permission prior to this meeting, should you be able to go, we will meet here on the 18th. That gives you two days. I don't know how long you will be staying there, it will depend on when the mission gets done. As for your digimon, you will keep them for as long as possible, which should be for a very long time." And with that, Yamaki walked out of the door and disappeared.  
  
The group stood speechless until Kazu spoke up. "I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I can do this. I mean, it's cool to go to San Fransisco and all, but I don't want to do this all over again, plus I don't think my parents want to either." Kazu walked out as well with Guardromon.  
  
"I'm with him," Kenta said, leaving with MarineAngemon.  
  
"You're always with him," Rika said, though he wasn't there any longer. She turned around and saw five kids including herself and their digimon. "This is nothing new, right?" She directed to them. "We're just coming out of retirement."  
  
"That's right!" Henry said. He looked over and saw his little sister, Suzie. She had a frown on her face.  
  
-She is a liability.  
  
"Suzie..." he started...  
  
"I know what you awe going to say, Henry. I'm too small to go," she said dejectedly. "Please, pretty please, I want to go!"  
  
"But you're only nine years old!"  
  
"Yeah, well you were only thirteen years old! What does four years make in a difference? Please?"  
  
He groaned. This girl was impossible. "If it's alright with Mom and Dad..." he moaned.  
  
She jumped. "Yay!"  
  
"That doesn't mean anything yet. I'm not your parents, I'm just a brother."  
  
Takato looked around and saw the auburn haired girl walk upstairs. He shook his head.  
  
"What's wrong, Takatomon?" His dino-partner Guilmon asked him.  
  
"Nothing. Look, stay right here, ok boy?" He followed Jeri up the stairs to go look for her.  
  
Knowing Jeri, she'd probably be in Takato's room. So he went up there, and being correct, she was up there, sitting on his bed. "Jeri," he started, "what are you doing?"  
  
She had a frown on her face, of course Takato had seen her sad before, but not like this since...it happened. "I'm so glad that you have Guilmon, that Rika has Renamon, and the others, but me..."  
  
Takato knew exactly what she was talking about. Her partner, Leomon, who was not there, who had been deleted over a year ago by Beelzemon, and though she lived on after that, she still could not completely get over the grief that Leomon was gone.  
  
"Look, Jeri, you don't have to go if you don't want to..." he said to her.  
  
She shook her head. "No. I will go with you guys. Leomon would want me to, and plus I could help you. I don't know exactly what I am going to do, but I will be there with you." She raised her head up and smiled.  
  
-That Takato sure is sweet...  
  
Takato blushed. This was the Jeri Katou he knew for the past several years. "Come on then, let's go downstairs, before Guilmon eats all the bread again," he said to her, as they exited the bedroom.  
  
"Can we go sightseeing, too?"  
  
"You bet."  
  
**************  
  
Ok, that chapter wasn't really that good, because here in Shinjuku is not where I plan to focus my story, but I want most of it in San Francisco. Anyway, review and tell me what you think! 


End file.
